Category: Travel

Going wild at Yala …

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Langur MonkeyElephants, water buffalo, spotted deer, jackals, crocodiles, wild boars, squirrels, hares, tree snakes, land monitors, mongoose, langur monkeys, wild dogs, and the painted stork, black wing stilt, pelican, hornbill, hawks eagle, jungle fowl, peacock, bramany kite, blue crane, green bee eater, spotted dove, blue tailed bee eater, kingfisher, koel, oriole, egret, western reef eagle, cormorant, paradise fly catcher, red wattle lapwing … we’ve spotted all of them and it’s supposed to be the “off season” at Yala National Park!

There are no fences at Cinnamon Wild Yala so wildlife roams at will. Guests require an escort to their cabins after dark as wild boar roam freely in search of food.

Langur monkeys frolic in the trees at dawn, they are sweet faced and very cheeky but will trash your cabin looking for food if you are foolish enough to leave a window or door open.

The food is wonderful and the weather is perfect … it will be hard to leave, but another exotic location awaits us.

Colombo to Hikkaduwa …

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The hotel at Hikkaduwa

We’ve been “on the road” for three days now, travelling down the west coast of Sri Lanka, threading our way through cows, goats, dogs, tuk-tuks, cars and pedestrians. It’s slow going, we gasp and drivers toot as their loaded buses pass each other with millimetres to spare between their mirrors.

We experienced a wild night at the beach resort of Hikkaduwa as the south western monsoon moved in from the sea, blowing tiles off the hotel roof, damaging houses and uprooting trees. Sadly, the region’s fishing fleet was badly hit, there have been 8 deaths, 17 fishermen are missing and 36 boats are still lost at sea.

Still, apart from a few heavy showers, the monsoon hasn’t yet affected our plans …We’ve lunched by the beach at Mirissa, visited Kosgoda Turtle Hatchery, a Moonstone mine and the gardens of Geoffrey and Bevis Bawa. Now it’s on to Yala National Park …

The Magical Mystery Tour …

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Galle Face Hotel beachfront

Usually when I travel I spend hours, maybe days researching each destination, agonising over train times, printing out information and making internet bookings.  This time I have to admit that I have made almost no preparations. I am just going to sit back and let the Magical Mystery Tour of Sri Lanka happen !!

We arrived tired but safe at the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo at 2:00am local time this morning.  Some of the group had been travelling for 24 hours and their body clocks were convinced it was really 6:30am, so they were truly tired. But after a few hours sleep, intrepid travellers that we are, we battled our way through an early buffet breakfast and then headed out on a tour of Colombo’s highlights, Hindu temples and colonial buildings.

Not on the itinerary was an “emergency” stop at a private home, where a gracious elderly lady friend of our driver allowed eight total strangers to troop into her immaculately clean house and use her toilet. Iced coffee was served, we chatted about her family living in Australia, and then we all trooped out of her house again. One of those “it would never happen in Australia” moments.

We finished the morning with a $3.00 food hall lunch of vegetarian curries – including green mango, jack-fruit, okra and loofah. “Like the one you use on your back only softer” … according to the stallholder.

Weather report: warm and steamy with occasional showers but not uncomfortable, especially at the hotel, which sits right on the beach and is today being buffeted by gusts of monsoonal wind. Tomorrow, an early start as we head out to the countryside and the home and garden of legendary Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa.

Inside a Hindu temple
$3.00 veggie curry
Galle Face buffet

Island farewell …

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DSCN4107 (1024x768)Our last two days passed in a bit of a blur … and we’ve decided that Kangaroo Island is a microcosm of Australia. Salt pans, dry creek beds, bush fires, bone-jarring dirt roads, lagoons, beautiful deserted beaches, and a home to over 1,000 native plant and bird species.  The island feels remote, but in contrast you are never too far from a vineyard, a cheese maker or a meal of fresh fish.

Wildlife highlights – Tammar wallabies on our front lawn, a dolphin skimming through the shallows only metres from our feet, and our visit to Duck Lagoon which even at the end of a dry summer has enough water to sustain a large number of birds.

The food highlight was at Kangaroo Island Spirits, a rustic and quirky little distillery located in a corrugated iron shed near Cygnet River.  They make an affogato to die for – drunken honeycomb ice cream, honey and walnut liqueur and a shot of espresso.  Absolutely worth a detour if it’s not already on your itinerary.

Five days on KI was not nearly long enough and we have decided to go back in October for wildflower season and to explore the western end of the island.